Month: August 2017

When I was asked for assistance by a fellow historian to find out what became of a former captain of Everton, I set off, armed with the information he had supplied, in the direction of Wigan. The last resting place of the man I was to search for was that of George Brewster and also to find out the year of his death because it was missing from the records of both Everton FC and the Scottish FA. I had not been aware, as my train drew slowly in to Wigan North West Station, that I had just passed within 100 yards of the spot that, eventually, was to be my final destination. This turned out to be Westwood Cemetery at Ince-in Makerfield.
I had to make a short walk, after alighting from the bus, back across the West Coast railway line, to reach the cemetery gates where, luckily, I met two of the local council workers who were having their...

The host of FA dignitaries who had been present at the opening of Goodison Park had now left Liverpool and the Everton committee assembled to start the new Football League season in earnest. Their first opponents would be Nottingham Forest. The much published decision to move from Anfield was complete and the new club, now a limited liability company, would be run by a board of directors. They were like-minded group of hard working individuals, from various religious backgrounds, whose politics were Liberal. The old Everton club had developed close links with the brewing trade and several of the previous membership had been unhappy with this arrangement. Nevertheless, when the new Everton team began their Football League campaign, they were captained by a man who held the licence of a public house in Preston. He was also destined to captain them in their first FA Cup final.
Robert Henry Howarth was born 25-6-1865, the second son of an iron moulder who...

When the draw for the Second Round of the 1882-83 Lancashire FA knockout gave Everton an away tie at Turton, the Everton club secretary, John W Clarke, quickly consulted his Bradshaw’s Railway Guide before making his way down to the local offices of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company on Tithebarn Street in Liverpool. Once there, he made the travel arrangements for himself and his players to compete in this important cup tie.
So it was that, on Saturday, 13 December 1882, the intrepid members of Everton Football Club boarded the express train which, after making one stop at Wigan, deposited them safely at Trinity Street Station in Bolton. The journey time was 45 minutes. Here they changed trains and, following a 15-minute journey, they reached their intended destination. They were greeted on the station platform and then escorted down a steep cobbled lane, to the headquarters of Turton FC at the Chetham Arms.
Their hosts were the oldest football club in...

The clean-shaven young man, seated on the right of the middle row, is an eighteen-year-old player who had recently established himself in the first eleven of an Everton Football Club who are pictured here. As he gazes towards the camera and watches for the "birdie", he is unaware that, in the course of the forthcoming football season, he will score the goal that will earn his club the right to lift their first piece of silverware. His football career, however, is destined to be cut short by injury.
William Henry Parry was born in 1864 in the north end of Liverpool. The 1881 census recorded that he was a son of Henry Parry who was a River Pilot and his Bristol-born wife, Ada. He had an elder sister, who was a teacher, and a younger brother, Frank, who was still at school. William, now age sixteen, listed his occupation as that of a Commercial Clerk. The family lived close to St...